The last new comics Wednesday for DC’s “New 52” has come to pass and a few things hit Twitter of note.

Over the past month a small storm has been brewing, a storm called BOOBGATE (by me.) A slough of the new titles have upped the level of T&A to a bit of an extreme; Batwoman’s lesbian undies, Catwoman’s boobs and Bat banging, and of course, transforming Starfire into a dead eyed Realdoll™. That last one seems to be the sticking point for many, and I have to agree… in Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, all she really did was announce that she has no short term memory and is a go’er, know what I mean? wink wink, nudge nudge. If you missed it, you can read a rather astute and totally sober review HERE < / self plug >. DC Comics turned to Twitter to finally respond to claims that they are running rampant with the sexy party and condemnation for reducing a popular Teen Titan to nothing more than a Fleshlight:

That’s it? Um, ok… At the risk of sounding like I am too far into the DC kool-aid (again), they do have a point. It is clearly rated T for Teen… hidden away next to the UPC code. So, that means its only for the hormone raging teen and up, right? Too bad that’s not really the point. Go to twitter, and just search for what is being said about Starfire. Don’t get me wrong, Starfire has long been cheesecake to the DCU, but in the DCnU that’s all she is. Over the last two decades the character has been met with sexual related controversy. Throughout the George Perez/Marv Wolfman run on Teen Titans, it was clear that she and Dick Grayson did it. A lot. Thing is she was still a superhero on top (no pun intended) of all that. If I am not mistaken fans are more miffed about the character being tossed off (seriously, no pun intended) as just eye candy.

I completely agree with the a basic thought that it is up to us to censor ourselves, freedom to the creators and publishers to do whatever they want, no matter how deliciously smutty it might be. I fully support Starfire’s anti-gravity boobs, just write the sexpot better, if you must. Make her strong, liberated and horny, not just vacuous and slutty. Crap, don’t send me hate mail for that. Starfire is a great character and she should be written that way. I think that’s what the fans are tweeting about DC.

The other big DC related tweet of the day? Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) had a little issue at a certain comic book store with the actions of a certain comic book company. If you haven’t heard, DC Comics has enlisted the rather respected monitoring company Nielsen NRG to survey comic book retailers and readers about the “New 52.” [Bleeding Cool]

If you live out in the middle of butfuck nowhere like myself, you can take the online survey. Apparently Nielsen has also enlisted some foot soldiers to hit up retailers and comic fans in stores in some of the major markets, such as Meltdown Comics. A plucky young scamp by the name of Patton was reportedly accosted multiple times by Nielsen surveyors, then he tweeted:

Ok, I know multiple tweets on one subject is freakin annoying, but I felt we needed to see the whole spread of Mr. Oswalts annoyance. Let’s be honest, surveys are annoying if they constitute more than two questions, but if you are getting hit a couple times with a shit ass annoying survey (for the record, I did the online survey and it is stupid, very stupid.) I do not know what these on the street Nielsen market research people where asking, or why they had to bug the Nerd Master Mr. Oswalt multiple times… I fucking swear, if it was the same shit ass question (note singular) of the online survey, then seriously. Fuck you.

The comic industry has never really gone under the scope of market research. One step forward for DC actually trying, but two steps back for how you are doing it. Maybe we can blame DC, maybe we should blame Nielsen, but someone needs to get their shit together.

This last part is to Mr. Patton Oswalt, so if you are not him, please stop reading and give us our privacy.

Dude, really? Don’t put me in this position. Don’t say you are done with DC. You are a bastion of light and an ideal that chubby alcoholic 30 somethings that read comics and dabble in other geekery aspire to. I look up to you. I read DC. Fuck Nielsen, they did this.

DC hired Nielsen, and it’s Nielsen that fucked up, why? Because they are marketing people, and that is what they do. Marketing is what has destroyed Hollywood and made Wil Smith a star. They must be stopped.

But don’t stop reading DC. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Contributors

Buy Our Shirts

A news and entertainment blog for nerd pop culture. We are vulgar, debaucherous, and funny bastards that pilfer the internet (or interwebz, if you like) for the news you need so that you don't have to. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll often shake your fist in an angry fury but your time here is worth the price of admission (which is free for those of you not paying attention)